Vacuum processing chambers are generally used for etching or chemical vapor depositing (CVD) of materials on substrates by supplying process gas to the vacuum chamber and applying a radio frequency (RF) field to the gas. The method of injection of process gasses into the chamber may have a dramatic effect on the distribution of chemically reactive species above the substrate surface and thus the overall process. Showerhead gas injection and diffusive transport systems are commonly used to ensure even distribution of the process gas over the substrate. In the case of inductively coupled plasma etch chambers, for example, the evolution of etched features is largely governed by the spatially dependent density of these reactive species over the substrate and the distribution of energetic ions incident on the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,662 to Roppel et al. discloses a dual plasma microwave apparatus for etching and deposition in which process gas is fed by conduits mounted on a side wall of a processing chamber, extending over a portion of the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,934 to Suzuki et al. discloses a gas injector arrangement including a plurality of gas supply nozzles positioned in a plurality of levels in a direction substantially perpendicular to the substrate wherein inert (rather than process) gas is injected through the center of the chamber ceiling. The gas supply nozzles at upper levels extend further toward the center of the substrate than those at lower levels. The injection holes are located at the distal ends of the gas supply nozzles. These systems are effective in delivering the process gas to the region above the substrate. However, because the conduits extend over the substrate surface between the substrate and the primary ion generation region, as the ions diffuse from the generation region toward the substrate the conduits can cast shadows of ion nonuniformity onto the substrate surface. This can lead to an undesirable loss in etch and deposition uniformity.
Other approaches employ gas supply conduits which do not extend over the substrate surface. “Electron Cyclotron Resonance Microwave Discharges for Etching and Thin-film Deposition,” J. Vacuum Science and Technology A, Vol. 7, pp. 883-893 (1989) by J. Asmussen shows conduits extending only up to the substrate edge. “Low-temperature Deposition of Silicon Dioxide Films from Electron Cyclotron Resonant Microwave Plasmas,” J. Applied Physics, Vol. 65, pp. 2457-2463 (1989) by T. V. Herak et al. illustrates a plasma CVD tool including a plurality of gas injection conduits that feed separate process gases. One set of conduits is mounted in the lower chamber wall with gas delivery orifices located just outside the periphery of the substrate support and at the distal ends of the conduits. These conduit arrangements can cause process drift problems as a result of heating of the ends of the conduits.
“New Approach to Low Temperature Deposition of High-quality Thin Films by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Microwave Plasmas,” J. Vac. Sci. Tech, B, Vol. 10, pp. 2170-2178 (1992) by T. T. Chau et al. illustrates a plasma CVD tool including a gas inlet conduit mounted in the lower chamber wall, located just above and outside the periphery of the substrate support. The conduit is bent so that the injection axis is substantially parallel to the substrate. An additional horizontal conduit is provided for a second process gas. The gas injection orifices are located at the distal ends of the conduits. Injectors with the orifices located at the distal ends of the injector tubes may be prone to clogging after processing a relatively small batch of substrates, e.g., less than 100. This injector orifice clogging is detrimental as it can lead to nonuniform distribution of reactants, nonuniform film deposition or etching of the substrate, shifts in the overall deposition or etch rate, as well as economic inefficiency vis-à-vis tool downtime due to required maintenance.
Various systems have been proposed to improve process uniformity by injecting process gas at sonic or supersonic velocity using, for example, a single nozzle aimed at the center of the substrate as disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,651 to Ni et al. Other schemes utilize a showerhead arrangement with a distribution of small holes designed to produce supersonic injection. This second design can improve reactive neutral densities over the substrate but requires the presence of a conducting gas distribution and baffle system which may degrade inductive coupling and can be a source of process contamination.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,999 to Hassan et al. discloses the advantage of injecting process gases for plasma etch and deposition applications at sonic velocity. Hassan et al. notes that the attainment of sonic velocity in the nozzle promotes an explosive discharge from the vacuum terminus of the nozzle which engenders a highly swirled and uniform dissipation of gas molecules in the reaction zone surrounding the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,055 to Fairbairn et al. discloses elongated supersonic spray nozzles that spray reactant gas at supersonic velocity toward the region overlying the substrate. The nozzles extend from the chamber wall toward the substrate, with each nozzle tip having a gas distribution orifice at the distal end. U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,345 to Asmussen et al. discloses a plasma CVD apparatus including supersonic nozzles for directing excited gas at the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,040 to Eres et al. discloses pulsed supersonic jets for CVD. While these systems are intended to improve process uniformity, they suffer from the drawbacks noted above, namely clogging of the orifices at the distal ends of the injectors, which can adversely affect film uniformity on the substrate.
Several systems have been proposed to improve process uniformity by injecting process gas using multiple injection nozzles. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,013,155 to McMillin et al. discloses an RF plasma processing system wherein gas is supplied through injector tubes via orifices located away from the high electrical field line concentrations found at the distal tip of the tubes. This arrangement minimizes clogging of the orifices because the orifices are located away from areas where build-up of process byproducts occurs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,077 to Moslehi et al. discloses an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) device including gas injectors arranged around the periphery of a substrate to provide uniform distribution of non-plasma gases. The non-plasma gases are injected to reduce particle contamination, and the injectors are oriented to direct the non-plasma gas onto the substrate surface to be processed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,133 to Miyazaki et al. discloses a multi-wafer non-plasma CVD apparatus including a vertical gas supply tube having a plurality of gas injection holes along a longitudinal axis. The injection holes extend along the longitudinal side of a wafer boat supporting a plurality of substrates to introduce gas into the chamber. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,301 to Shishiguchi et al. discloses a plurality of vertical gas supply tubes with gas emission holes along the length of the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,687 to Singh et al. describes a system with two independent gas supplies. The primary supply injects gas towards the substrate and the secondary supply injects gas at the periphery of the substrate. The gas supplies represent separate assemblies and are fed from separate gas supply lines that may carry different gas mixtures. Other systems comprising independent gas sources and independent gas flow control are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,885,358 and 5,772,771.
With the industry trend toward increasing substrate sizes, methods and apparatus for ensuring uniform etching and deposition are becoming increasingly important. This is particularly evident in flat panel display processing. Conventional showerhead gas injection systems can deliver gases to the center of the substrate, but in order to locate the orifices close to the substrate, the chamber height must be reduced which can lead to an undesirable loss in uniformity. Radial gas injection systems may not provide adequate process gas delivery to the center of large area substrates typically encountered, for example, in flat panel processing. This is particularly true in bottom-pumped chamber designs commonly found in plasma processing systems.
The above-mentioned Fairbairn et al. patent also discloses a showerhead injection system in which injector orifices are located on the ceiling of the reactor. This showerhead system further includes a plurality of embedded magnets to reduce orifice clogging. U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,965 to Tokuda et al. discloses a processing system in which process gas is injected through inlets on the ceiling of a processing chamber. The gas is supplied toward a high density plasma region.
In addition to the systems described above, U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,639 to Hegedus discloses a parallel plate reactor supplied with process gas by a central port having a flared end in its top wall and a plurality of ports about the periphery of the chamber. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,525,159 (Hama et al.), 5,529,657 (Ishii), 5,580,385 (Paranjpe et al.), 5,540,800 (Qian) and 5,531,834 (Ishizuka et al.) disclose plasma chamber arrangements supplied process gas by a showerhead and powered by an antenna which generates an inductively coupled plasma in the chamber. Apparatus and systems for providing a uniform distribution of gas across a substrate are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,263,829; 6,251,187; 6,143,078; 5,734,143; and 5,425,810.
In spite of the developments to date, there still is a need for optimizing uniformity and deposition for radio frequency plasma processing of a substrate while preventing clogging of the gas supply orifices and build up of processing by-products and improving convective transport above the substrate.